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MotoGP 2009 - Round Four - Le Mans - Day Two |
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MotoGP 2009 - Round Four - Le Mans - Day Two |
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In-form Spaniard Dani Pedrosa snatched his
first pole position of 2009 right at the death of Saturday
afternoon’s MotoGP qualifying session at the Grand Prix de France,
as the riders got the chance to give it full gas on a dry track. With weather in Le Mans always predictably unpredictable, morning rain gave way to afternoon sunshine followed by looming cloud. Pole position changed hands several times, before Pedrosa made it his own with a best effort of 1’33.974 on his final lap, taking the first spot by a 0.005s margin. The factory Honda rider –surprising even himself with a recent run of results belying his lack of testing time and full fitness- will be joined on the front row by fellow Spanish rider Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha) and Casey Stoner (Ducati Marlboro). Lorenzo had looked to have clinched pole with his own heroics in the final sector of the track just minutes beforehand. Lorenzo’s colleague Valentino Rossi made improvements as the session went on, his final position of fourth being a significant step forward having lapped eleventh fastest on Saturday morning. Rossi’s compatriot Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) and his former team-mate Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), who briefly held provisional pole in the session, will line up behind him on the grid. The third row will feature Rizla Suzuki pair Chris Vermeulen and Loris Capirossi who both qualified within a second of Pedrosa, at a track where Vermeulen took victory in 2007. The top ten was rounded off by Italian competitor Marco Melandri (Hayate Racing) and home rider Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) who both bounced back from crashes in the hour-long QP session. Sete Gibernau missed the session and will not race this weekend after fracturing his collarbone and damaging shoulder ligaments in a Saturday morning free practice crash. He has flown back immediately to Barcelona for further assessment of his injuries. Weather forecasts have suggested that there is an 80% chance of rain on Sunday during the fourth MotoGP race of the year. 1. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda 1'33.974 2. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1'33.979 3. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team 1'34.049 4. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1'34.106 5. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) Repsol Honda 1'34.300 6. Colin Edwards (USA) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1'34.330 7. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1'34.676 8. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1'34.839 9. Marco Melandri (ITA) Hayate Racing Team 1'35.008 10. Randy De Puniet (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP 1'35.399 11. Toni Elias (SPA) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'35.431 12. James Toseland (GBR) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1'35.524 13. Nicky Hayden (USA) Ducati Marlboro Team 1'35.682 14. Mika Kallio (FIN) Pramac Racing 1'35.741 15. Yuki Takahashi (JPN) Scot Racing Team 1'35.774 16. Alex De Angelis (RSM) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'35.785 17. Niccolo Canepa (ITA) Pramac Racing 1'36.136 -- Ducati Report Casey Stoner will start the Grand Prix de France from the front row of the grid tomorrow after contesting pole position until the final moments of this afternoon’s qualifying practice at Le Mans. With heavy clouds and a damp track in the early stages giving way to warm sunshine later on, the Australian dominated much of the second half of the hour-long session but wasn’t finally able to hold off the challenge of Jorge Lorenzo, who edged out him by just 0.070 seconds, and Dani Pedrosa, who went 0.005 seconds quicker than his fellow Spaniard to snatch pole in a thrilling finale. Stoner’s Ducati Marlboro team-mate Nicky Hayden significantly improvement his lap time by almost 2.5 seconds from yesterday, moving two positions up the overall classification to qualify thirteenth fastest. The American is still struggling to find confidence with the rear end of his Desmosedici GP9 but he has made progress this weekend that he hopes to consolidate in tomorrow’s 28-lap race. CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 3rd (1’34.049) "This afternoon’s session was always going to be something of a gamble because of the weather conditions. It was a similar situation to the one we had in Jerez, with everybody struggling to get enough time to set up the bike. We really needed to use the qualifying session to try to get a bit better set up, but still in the back of your mind you tried to keep enough time in the end of the session to get a good qualifying position. We went out and the bike felt quite good but we didn’t get a really good time with the first softer tyre. When I went out with the second one unfortunately I got stuck behind Chris Vermeulen for a couple of laps and pretty much used the best of the tyre. I’m a bit disappointed because I think we could have been a little bit faster. Anyway, I’m reasonably happy with my race pace. We’ve had a few issues with the bike that we’ve worked on well and it’s important that we’re on the front row. It’s going to be a tough race tomorrow whatever the conditions, but I feel a little bit more confident here than in Jerez. I hope to able to stick at the front a little bit better! " NICKY HAYDEN – (Ducati Marlboro Team) 13th (1’35.682) “We started over with some of the settings this weekend but like everybody the lack of track time at the moment is hurting us. We have made steady progress over the course of the weekend but at the moment I still don’t have the rear grip going into the corners that I need. We’ve made little steps in some areas that we need to build on but at the end of the day the time sheets don’t lie and we’re too far from the front of the grid. The priority tomorrow is to get a good start and go fast early in the race. It would be nice to have some fun and finish with a good result”. -- HRC Report Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) rode to his factory RC212V to a brilliant pole position at Le Mans this afternoon, marking himself down as a favourite for tomorrow’s French Grand Prix, round four of this year’s 17 race MotoGP World Championship. The Spaniard timed his final charge to perfection, moving ahead of his rivals in the final seconds of the session, leaving them no time to counter-attack. His final and fastest lap outpaced Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) by five thousandths of a second and third fastest Casey Stoner (Ducati) by seven hundredths of a second. This is the second year in a row that Pedrosa has scored pole at Le Mans. Conditions were cool and cloudy for the afternoon qualifier, the best they have been all weekend, with the previous two practice outings spoiled by squalls of rain and drizzle that had track conditions changing throughout. Pedrosa’s first pole of the year (he was second on the grid in Spain two weeks ago) continues an impressive run by the Spaniard who started the season injured and is still far from fully fit because his still-healing left knee prevents him from undertaking his usual training regime. Despite those difficulties the 23 year-old finished third in last month’s Japanese GP and second at Jerez, so he will be aiming to continue that progression tomorrow. Team-mate Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) was often the fastest man on track in the two free practice sessions and scored a solid second-row start in qualifying. Just three tenths off pole, the Italian didn’t manage to get the maximum out of his final run on soft tyres but is nonetheless confident of a good race tomorrow. With conditions changing constantly here at Le Mans, Dovizioso will leave his decision on tyre choice until the last moment before the race. Local hero Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) gave himself some work to do this afternoon by falling in the early stages when he touched a still-damp white line while braking for the Chemin aux Boeufs chicane. The Frenchman had to ride the rest of the session on his number two bike, though that machine was still fast enough to clock the second highest top speed of the session, at 290.3km/h. De Puniet ended up tenth fastest, putting him at the front of the fourth row. Thirty stitches in his right arm didn’t stop Toni Elias (San Carlo Honda Gresini) from putting in a typically determined effort in qualifying. Following the Jerez GP the Spaniard underwent surgery on his right arm to cure an arm-pump problem and is still recovering from the operation which aggravated a tendon in the arm. Not surprisingly, Elias is struggling with his physical endurance here and he knows that tomorrow’s 28 lap race will be one of the toughest of his career. MotoGP rookie Yuki Takahashi (Scot Honda) had his best result of the year so far at Jerez and was looking forward to getting back to action here so he could work on improving his front suspension set-up, which is currently holding him back. The ever-changing weather conditions didn’t help Takahashi here but his crew did make improvements during qualifying, which he ended in 15th. Unaccustomed to starting from the back row of the grid, Alex De Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini) and his team are planning a radical change to the set-up of his RC212V for the race here. The San Marino rider was 16th fastest in qualifying, leaving him with plenty of work to do both in the morning warm-up and in the first few laps of the race. HONDA MotoGP RIDER QUOTES Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda), pole position at 1m 33.974s, said: “Obviously I’m really happy with pole today and it was a very close battle for the front row. Right at the end we were able to set the fastest lap and I’m really pleased for the team as well as for myself. Being on the front row is important, and it’s also lucky that we had good weather for this afternoon and for most of the morning session because this allowed us to test a few set-up options and learn more about the machine at this track. We still have work to do before the race though, so we’re not going to relax at all. It’s a long race tomorrow and there are some improvements I’d like to make to the machine settings to give us a good chance. And of course the weather can play a big part at this circuit as we’ve seen many times before. We have to prepare for many conditions, so we’re staying focused.” Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda), fifth fastest at 1m 34.300s, said: “Starting from the second row is okay and I feel I could have gone quicker still if I’d managed to get the maximum from the soft tyre. I’m happy though, because I had a good rhythm and was able to maintain a fast pace on both the soft and hard Bridgestone tyre options during the practice sessions. We will have to take a lot of care with the tyre selection because, with the changeable weather situation and temperature here, the choice of tyres for the race will be crucial. It’s likely that we won’t know which ones to use until just before the race when we’ll have the best idea of the conditions. Tonight we’ll study a few more setting adjustments and aim to finalise things in the warm-up. I like this track and I’m looking forward to the race.” Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda), tenth fastest at 1m 35.399s, said: “I am not satisfied about my qualifying because I made a mistake at the beginning of the session and lost some track time. I probably braked on the white line and the surface was still damp. We have been doing a good job and the machine was on a good technical level. After the crash I rode my number two bike, but I could not do a perfect lap time especially on my last run because of the traffic. However, we have got the right race set-up and I must take a good start tomorrow so I can ride at the front. The first six riders are very fast and I have to do my best to finish just behind them.” Toni Elias (San Carlo Honda Gresini), 11th fastest at 1m 35.431s, said: “I’m really suffering here because I have no strength at all in my right arm and no matter how much I try I simply can’t push the bike any harder. I’ve been trying to get behind other riders for a tow and it helps but it’s so hard. This morning was particularly bad but we were at least able to improve the bike in the afternoon and the lap times came down significantly. I was able to hold my position from yesterday and I’m pleased with that. I’m doing everything I can, so are the team, and tomorrow we’ll just try to get through the race and pick up as many points as we can.” Yuki Takahashi (Scot Honda), 15th fastest at 1m 35.774s, said: “Since Jerez I’ve had a few issues with the front suspension of my machine. To fix it what we need is lost of good weather and dry track time, which we haven’t had here. Nevertheless, we have been able to make a step forward with the fork setting during this afternoon’s qualifying session. For tomorrow, we’ll see – everything depends on the weather.” Alex De Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini), 16th fastest at 1m 35.785s, said: “We definitely improved the bike today on race tyres but when we put the softer compound in to push for a fast lap we ran into a lot of problems that we didn’t expect. We’re looking at the telemetry now, we can clearly see where the problems are and we have a radical idea to try tomorrow that we hope works. It is going to be difficult starting from so far back but we don’t have much to lose by taking a big gamble on the setting so it will be interesting to see how it turns out.” -- Suzuki Report Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racer Chris Vermeulen will start tomorrow's French Grand Prix from the front of the third row after narrowly missing out on securing a second row start at Le Mans today. Vermeulen has looked impressive all weekend on the 4,185m Bugatti Circuit and posted consistently quick laps throughout this morning's final practice session and in the hour of qualifying this afternoon. His best time of 1'34.676 from his 31 laps in the qualifying session gave him seventh place on the timesheets and only 0.702 seconds behind pole-setter Dani Pedrosa. Team-Mate Loris Capirossi (1'34.839, 29 laps) will start alongside Vermeulen on the third row as he recorded the eighth quickest time this afternoon. Capirossi worked hard to get the confidence he needed in his Suzuki GSV-R and now believes that the extra performance he needs to be competitive must come from him tomorrow. This afternoon's qualifying was held in sunny conditions with all the riders able to complete the full hour, as the rain stayed away. Track temperatures rose to 28ºC, but a strong, cool wind meant that air temperatures never climbed above 16ºC. Vermeulen and Capirossi take to the track for tomorrow's 28-lap race at 14.00hrs local time (12.00hrs GMT) hoping that the expected rain doesn't materialise and that they are both able to get a good start and battle with the front runners. Chris Vermeulen: "Things went quite well all day today and this morning we took quite a big step forward with the bike. We tried to get everything working right as quickly as possible, but we had a sprinkle of rain this morning - so that was a bit of a pain - and we didn't quite get all the things done that we wanted to. This afternoon though was completely dry and the sun even popped its head out - which was nice! We got through everything we wanted to test on the bike and we got a bit more feeling which led to more confidence in the machine, then it was just down to doing fast lap-times. For me the soft rear tyre was the best for doing that and it felt quite consistent so it was the best tyre for qualifying - it might even be the race tyre. I am a bit disappointed to be back on the third row, but I've been getting good starts recently, so I need one of those tomorrow!" Loris Capirossi: "We had a bit more luck today with the weather and that certainly helped us to get the settings for the bike sorted. We did a lot of good work on the bike and tried a couple of different settings to see which worked the best for here. In the end I pushed a bit harder and the lap-time improved, but I still have a problem in the last section - especially in the final couple of corners - and I am losing a bit of time there. We will analyse the data this evening to try to make the improvements I need for tomorrow and I know it is not so easy for me in the last part, but I am sure I can make it up. The team has done a great job this weekend and now it is up to me!" Paul Denning - Team Manager: "It was a good team performance today. Loris's guys have definitely improved his confidence in the chassis and the overall package since yesterday and he was able to make a decent step forward. Chris has continued to run quick and consistent lap-times all weekend and looks very clean and confident on the bike. We would have preferred to have been on the front two rows and we know that if it is dry tomorrow we will be looking for a bit more pace so we can run competitively with the front guys." -- Yamaha Report Jorge Lorenzo missed out on a second consecutive pole position by just five thousandths of a second during qualifying for the French Grand Prix in Le Mans today, finishing second to fellow Spaniard Dani Pedrosa. His Fiat Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi was just edged off the front row at the end of the session and will start from fourth tomorrow. After yesterdays rain it was another grey morning and the practice session was run in the dry but with track temperatures reaching only 17 degrees. After a slow start yesterday Lorenzo looked much happier this morning and was third in the standings, but Rossi found himself struggling to perfect his set-up and finished down the order in 11th. Heavy rain fell during the middle part of the day and a wet qualifying session was expected but just a few minutes into the hour the sun miraculously appeared and the track quickly dried out. Both Rossi and Lorenzo looked strong throughout and the Spaniard especially was hugely consistent around the 4.185 km Bugatti circuit, eventually moving into pole with nine minutes to go. With a few minutes left Casey Stoner knocked the 22-year-old off the top spot but Lorenzo was able to make full use of his soft Bridgestone tyres at the end and retook pole, looking to have the session sewn up. It wasn’t over however and Pedrosa’s final lap was just 0.005 seconds faster. The World Champion looked in much better shape this afternoon, having found a setting which enabled him to ride his M1 as he wanted. He wasn’t quite as fast as his team-mate but it seemed he would hold onto the final front-row grid spot as the seconds ticked down before he, too became a victim of Pedrosa’s last-minute charge and was bumped to fourth. Having won from that position last time out however Rossi is confident of being in the mix tomorrow when the race gets going at 1400 CET. Jorge Lorenzo - Position: 2nd Time: 1'33.979 Laps: 30 “I was tiny bit unlucky on that last lap, and we were so very close so it’s a pity! Anyway the important thing is that we’re on the first row and now we can try to get the good start that we need. I felt strong on the bike today and I was able to make a lot of consistent laps this afternoon, so I am happy about the shape we’re in for the race. I really hope that the weather is the same tomorrow and I am looking forward to the race and to getting a good result, like last year here.” Valentino Rossi - Position: 4th Time: 1'34.106 Laps: 29 “Qualifying was a lot better for us! Yesterday and then again this morning we weren’t in such good shape, but we’ve done a good job to fix the bike and this afternoon I could ride how I wanted. It’s not perfect and we can still make it better, but we’re okay. We’re on the second row and a good start will be important because all the top riders are very, very close and there are many that I think can challenge for the race tomorrow. I think it could be a very fun race; for the fans but I hope also for us! I do hope it’s dry, like this, but if it’s going to rain it would be better if it rained all day so we can try our wet setting in the warm-up, because finally here we’ve been more or less on a dry track for all three sessions.” Team Manager “The weather helped us today and we’ve had two good sessions, which was important after yesterday. Everything worked to plan and we were able to test out the ideas that we had yesterday and this morning in order to refine our setting. Jorge’s pace is quite good, he just missed pole due to a bit of traffic on his final lap but he’s on the front row and that’s the most important thing. Hopefully the French weather will be kind to us again tomorrow and we will be aiming for a return to the podium” Team Manager “This afternoon went well and we have been able to recover from this morning, when we had some small difficulties to overcome. We still have room for a few little improvements in order to be in perfect shape for tomorrow, but we have time. Starting fourth is not so bad, it’s where we started in Jerez and that went well! We’re looking forward to an exciting race.” Colin Edwards gave the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team's hopes of a home podium in the French MotoGP race a massive boost when he qualified in sixth position on the grid in Le Mans this afternoon. The 35-year-old was in superb form throughout the session, which started on a damp track that rapidly dried out after earlier rain showers. Edwards, who was part of a Yamaha clean sweep of the Le Mans podium last season, produced a stunning burst of speed shortly before the halfway stage to put himself in contention for pole position. At one stage he led Ducati's Casey Stoner by over 0.5s having impressively reeled off four successive fastest laps. As the session built up to an exciting climax, he held a position on the front row until the final five minutes and Edwards ended with a best time of 1.34.330, which left him just 0.326s away from pole position. Having been quickest in this morning's final practice session, the Texan is confident his consistent pace using a combination of hard front and soft rear compound Bridgestone tyres will enable him to mount a strong challenge for the podium in tomorrow's 28-lap race. British rider James Toseland will start from 12th on the grid, the 28-year-old though was delighted with progress made in the set-up of his YZR-M1 machine. Improvements to front and rear stability allowed Toseland to push harder while feeling more comfortable, and he was less than a second away from claiming a place in the top seven. Colin Edwards 6th 1.34.330 - 30 laps "I'm happy on one side because my race pace is really consistent and I'm as quick as the guys in front of me, so I expect to be challenging at the front in the race tomorrow. But part of me is a little bit disappointed that I wasn't higher up the grid having been close to the top pretty much throughout. I had a couple of small issues and I feel there was more time out there. Basically I can only use the hard front tyre. I can't get the soft one to work, but we have to keep two of the four hard compound tyres for the race. So by the end of the session the front I like is past its best with a lot of laps on it. When you put in the softer rear tyre to make a lap time at the end of the session, the best grip on the hard front has gone and it starts moving because you're pushing it too hard. Having said that, to be within three tenths of the fast guys I'm not complaining too much. And when we start the race tomorrow with the grip of the front and rear at the same level, we're not going to have a problem. I got a podium last year for Tech 3 in its home race, so I'm definitely looking for a repeat of that." James Toseland 12th 1.35.524 - 30 laps "I felt much happier today and the team gave me a great bike. I'm sorry to my guys really for not being a bit further up the grid, but we're so close to being on the edge of the top six and I feel I'm making the progress I've been looking for. This morning it was too cold for the hard front tyre, so we didn't really run it, but with ten degrees more temperature this afternoon, it was much stronger and I felt much more comfortable and that helped me a lot. With the softer rear tyre, which I'm sure will be the race choice that should be a good combination. Sadly the final position is not great again and that is something that has hampered me this season. I'm not far off the group in front at all but starting further down makes it tough to pick them off when we're all doing similar lap times. I really feel though that I'm getting close and today I started to enjoy riding and not thinking about always struggling. That was a good feeling and I know how important this race is for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team and I'll be giving it 100 per cent as always." -- Bridgestone Report After a morning of interspersed rain at the Le Mans Circuit, the hour-long qualifying session was run on a dry track under a rare blue sky. Dani Pedrosa took advantage of the conditions on Bridgestone’s medium front and soft rear compound slicks to grab his and Repsol Honda’s first pole of the season on his final lap. The Spaniard finished just 0.005 seconds ahead of fellow countryman Jorge Lorenzo for Fiat Yamaha, who in turn snatched second position on his last lap from Ducati Team’s Casey Stoner by just 0.075 seconds making it the closest front row of 2009. The top four riders all lapped faster than the best race lap at this circuit, set at 1m34.215s by Fiat Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi last year. There was disappointment for Sete Gibernau and the Grupo Francisco Hernando team however, as the Spaniard fell during the morning’s free practice session and fractured the same collarbone that affected him during pre-season testing. He will miss the remainder of the French Grand Prix, leaving 17 bikes to start tomorrow’s 28 lap race. Hiroshi Yamada - Bridgestone Motorsport – Manager Motorcycle Sport Unit “We saw some very close competition today, the closest of the season at the front under a return to a one hour long qualifying session. Once again we marked all the soft compound Bridgestone slicks with a white line around the sidewall, and I am happy with the way this is working. I think it will provide much more information about riders’ tyre choices to the fans and all those watching during the race tomorrow. On behalf of Bridgestone Motorsport I would like to extend my sympathy to Sete and his team, and wish him a fast and successful recovery from his injury.” Tohru Ubukata - Bridgestone Motorsport – Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development “We had two dry sessions today so had the chance to compare both tyre specs we brought here, and both compounds worked well in not perfect conditions. The times were getting faster lap by lap towards the end of the qualifying session as the track temperature increased and the circuit conditions continued to change after the rain. I think if it rains again overnight the conditions will be different again tomorrow, which will make compound decisions very difficult for the teams.” -- Minor Categories Álvaro Bautista (Mapfre Aspar) heads a title-chasing front row in the 250cc class, courtesy of a 1’38.270 hot lap on 21st of 23 turns of the historic French circuit – which put him 0.382s ahead of World Champion Marco Simoncelli (Metis Gilera) on the timesheet. Behind 250cc title holder Simoncelli on the front row are championship leader Hiroshi Aoyama (Scot Racing) and Saturday morning’s pace-setter Thomas Luthi (Emmi – Caffe Latte), who both put in similar times to the Italian. Bautista’s Aspar colleague Mike di Meglio, at his home Grand Prix, heads the second row, followed by highly experienced Spaniard Álex Debón (Aeropuerto Castello-Blusens), young Italian Raffaele de Rosa (Scot Racing) and Czech rider Lukas Pesek (Auto Kelly - CP). Red Bull KTM rider Marc Márquez set pole right at the end of the 125cc qualifying session and the 16 year-old will look to follow it up with his second podium in two races having placed third at Jerez two weeks ago. Behind the young Spaniard on the Grand Prix de France grid will be another 16 year-old, Scott Redding (Blusens Aprilia), who also registered his best time, 1’47.173, just 0.093s behind Márquez, in the final seconds of the qualifying practice as the track dried following morning rain. Completing the front row are another Spaniard Nico Terol (Jack&Jones Team) and Swiss rider Dominique Aegerter (Ajo Interwetten), who both recorded hot laps right at the death. The second row will feature the experienced Joan Olivé (Derbi Racing Team), Bancaja Aspar teammates Bradley Smith & Julián Simón and Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing). |
